On the tenth day after Selina and Xenos returned to the capital, Xenos issued work directives and gave special orders to Will.
After confirming the order, Will burned the note with a candle and began preparing to move at the appointed hour.
At the same time, Kashi was also preparing for the contact scheduled for that day.
‘It was for this very day that my lady trained me.’
Had she been an ordinary maid, it would have sufficed to learn how to brew tea, know her mistress's favorite furniture, and remember the dress patterns and snacks she liked. But Selina had always asked far more of Kashi.
Thanks to the eccentric orders of that young lady, Kashi had been subjected to physical training no other maid would ever dream of.
She had learned to read for her mistress, and she had practiced scaling walls for her sake.
“Come with me. This is no place for you.”
Kashi had been a stray on the streets before meeting Selina and obtaining the identity of a maid in the Count’s estate.
Selina was the one who had given Kashi the life she now lived.
‘Therefore, no matter what happens, I must obey my lady’s orders.’
Kashi was someone who knew true loyalty.
Arriving at the rendezvous before ten, she heard a knock on the door using the agreed-upon code.
“The darkness of this hour is….”
Yet no reply came with the countersign.
‘What is this?’
“The darkness of this hour is….”
When the answer failed to come a second time, Kashi realized something was wrong. Just as she tried to flee through the back door of the abandoned house, arrows suddenly shot toward her.
By a margin of a mere three centimeters, she dodged an arrow that would have pierced her skull. Unflustered, she saw the shaft embedded in the door, then instantly fell back behind the open frame to evade the next.
As more arrows came whistling through the air, an unfamiliar man appeared out of the darkness.
“This way!”
By instinct, Kashi knew the man was not with those attacking her. Without hesitation, she sprinted toward him.
‘If I survive this… my lady will survive too.’
She felt no bitterness over risking her life, though she could have lived peacefully as a quiet maid in the manor.
She was convinced that this was the moment she must truly serve her mistress with her very life.
Will had arrived to meet Kashi, but seeing men dressed in black approaching the rendezvous ahead of him, he had watched the situation from a distance.
Those men surrounded the building, then cautiously knocked on the door.
‘That’s the knock code we agreed upon.’
He was surprised for a moment, but what truly aroused his suspicion was that they could not offer the counter-phrase when prompted from inside.
Seeing a man at the back door unleash an arrow, Will knew he could wait no longer and intervened to save Kashi.
The two fled immediately. Unarmed and heavily outnumbered, running was their only sensible choice.
Will was a soldier. He knew instinctively what mattered most in such circumstances.
“Is there somewhere to hide?”
“I have a place where I've been staying. Let's go there.”
Kashi ran swiftly without losing her breath, leading the way toward her temporary hideout.
‘Not bad for a maid…. She’s fast.’
Before long, they arrived at Kashi's temporary quarters.
“What is this…?”
From the entrance, it was obvious someone had broken in ahead of them.
“Step back. I’ll go in first.”
Shielding Kashi, Will entered while listening closely for any sound. The interior was ransacked, but no one was there.
“It seems this was the problem.”
Kashi sighed, looking down at a half-burnt piece of paper.
Selina had conveyed her instructions to Kashi through written notes. Kashi had made it a rule to burn them after receiving her orders, but she had failed to burn the last one completely, leaving behind the knock code.
“It seems our place has been compromised.”
Kashi nodded at Will’s words and began gathering essentials.
“I can change locations at any time. Everything I need is on me. Since this place is no longer safe, let us go hide somewhere else.”
“No place will truly be safe. Why not come straight with me to the Duke’s residence?”
It was natural for Will to suggest it. To protect the Duchess’s trusted maid, she ought to be brought to a heavily guarded stronghold.
However, Kashi had other priorities to consider.
“Going to the Duke’s estate isn't difficult. But if I do that, going back and forth to the East Wing will become far harder.”
“…”
“And just as someone uncovered my hideout today, someone will discover that I went to the Duke’s residence. If rumors spread that a maid from the Count’s estate is running between the Duke's estate and the East Wing, my lady’s reputation will only worsen. Then there’s no telling when her house arrest might ever be lifted.”
Hearing her words, Will pondered for a moment before a faint smile curved his lips.
“No, Kashi. We should actually take advantage of this.”
“Pardon?”
“Let us go to the estate together for now. I’ll explain once we’re there. Most likely, my lady… no, Her Grace the Duchess herself will praise you and say you thought well.”
“You failed?”
Ingrid Hazel revealed her fury, her petite face twisting completely.
“Is your guild truly incapable of doing something so simple? Did I ask you to kill some prominent figure? All I asked was for you to kill a single maid! Is that so difficult?”
“Watch your tongue, young lady. True enough, we work for coin, but even our patience has its limits.”
“That’s right, and those limits… I have them as well.”
Ingrid glared sharply at the guild master standing before her.
“You’re paid money, so do your job. That is the whole point of paying you.”
“Fine. If that’s how you want it, I’ll return your money. Will that satisfy you?”
The man spoke boastfully, then drew his dagger and provocatively ran his red tongue along the edge of the blade.
“With that, you'll no longer be my client. And no matter what I do, you won't be able to say a single word.”
“So this is how your guild conducts business?”
Ingrid gave a cold sneer and snapped her fingers.
It happened in an instant. The guild master felt the world turn upside down before he realized his forehead had slammed violently onto the carpeted floor.
“Wh-what is this…?”
“Hush…. You’ll lose consciousness in a matter of moments. So I will tell you just one thing before you do. Do you know why I hired you even though I possess this power?”
Ingrid leaned down to his ear on one knee.
“Because the time has not yet come for me to reveal my power. So all you had to do was take the money and do the job well.”
After confirming that his breathing had stopped, Ingrid pulled the bell cord.
Not a servant, but Baron Hazel walked in as though it were the most natural thing, his eyes widening in terror at the sight of the man splayed across the floor.
‘D-dead…?’
Ingrid sighed at the sight of the Baron's face frozen in horror, then waved her hand languidly.
“Take him and disappear with it.”
“D-disappear… with the corpse?”
Though Baron Hazel was accustomed to following along for his daughter’s money and had participated in forging a few documents, he had never laid eyes on a dead body, let alone been ordered to dispose of one.
Cold sweat broke out across his skin, leaving him paralyzed with panic.
“Why? Do you need more money? Do you want more to move?”
“No matter how much money you pay… murder is…!”
“That is precisely why….”
Ingrid took a step closer, suddenly tilting her head in front of him.
“I told you: dispose of him without anyone finding out… Father.”
Baron Hazel shuddered at the weight of the word “Father,” then dragged the massive man’s body with all the strength he could muster.
Watching her aging father struggle, Ingrid shook her head and snapped her fingers once more.
In an instant, both the Baron and the corpse vanished, displaced to the small mountain behind the mansion.
“For me to wield power like this means my Dragon Power has already awakened. Then that woman… is she truly the Fated Partner?”
Wearily, Ingrid leaned back against the ornate sofa in her luxurious room.
“I must hasten the plan. I will never let that woman take my place.”
